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Toll Violators Owe NTTA More Than $1,000,000

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NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Some North Texas toll road users have been ignoring the bills they get in the mail.

The North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) is owed more than $1,200,000 by just a handful of violators.

According to NTTA spokesman Michael Rey, extreme violators are an imposition on the state and other paying customers. “Ninety-two percent of NTTA customers pay in a timely manner. When they’re on the tollway, when they’re on the President George Bush Turnpike they want the person next to them to be paying as well.”

Due to privacy concerns the NTTA cannot publish the names or license plates of violators, but Reys says one person has driven on various toll roads thousands of times and never paid. That person owes the NTTA more than $120,000 in tolls and fees.

In most cases the lack of payment is not due to billing errors. “We may be getting them at their correct address and they see the notifications and they decide that they’re not gonna pay,” explained Reys. “It’s just delaying the inevitable. It’s not the smart way to go, certainly.”

Rey says one of the problems with collection is that the NTTA cannot stop anyone from driving on the toll roads.

Other Texas toll authorities, like the one in Harris County, can stop people from renewing their vehicle registration or driver’s license if they owe outstanding tolls. The NTTA tried to get the same authority from the legislature this past session but was denied.

For now, the only recourse the NTTA has to collect outstanding tolls and fees is to take the violator to court.